43 Of The Greatest iPhone Tricks

I am using iPhone and iPad from few years now and have come across several instances where I have learnt some really useful tips, tricks, hacks and secrets. Its time to give back and tell what I have discovered that is highly recommended for iOS users, and enjoy these super-duper tips at one place.

I am sure you will find some very basic stuff and some really awesome stuff that you didn’t know so far. So do share this with your friends that have an iPhone or iPad and ask them how many did they knew.

I would consider you a pro/geek if have known more than fifty percent of these tips and tricks.

1. Undo Type

If you are typing a message to someone and you don’t want to press the backspace key until you’ve deleted every single letter, you can just shake your phone and it will delete the whole message. If you want to redo typing then all you have to do is shake again. via

2. iPhone keyboard tip

You’ve probably been using your iPhone’s keyboard for ages without realising that it’s actually easier than you thought to add symbols to your messages. Instead of tapping once on the 123 button and then again on the ABC button when you’re done, you can tap and hold the 123 button, then slide your finger to select the symbol you want to insert. Once it’s been added, your keyboard will automatically revert back to the letters keyboard. via

3. Double Tap for a period

Double-tapping the spacebar will automatically end the sentence with a period and start a new one for you. via

4. Recharge your battery faster by switching to airplane mode

Switching to airplane mode turns off battery-draining wireless and cellular access, allowing your phone to recharge up to twice as fast. via

5. Make a passcode with letters instead of numbers

1. Go to Settings > General > Passcode Lock.
2. Turn off the setting that says “Simple Passcode.”
3. A screen will appear prompting you to change your passcode, along with a full QWERTY keyboard. The next time you unlock your phone, the keyboard will appear instead of just the number pad. via

6. Find Airplanes above you

Find out what airplanes are flying above you. Just say “what flights are overhead.” via

7. Auto Location Detection

Smartphones are very good at giving away your location. You can turn off your auto location by going into Settings >Privacy >Location Services and control what apps you want to authorize to share your location. Otherwise, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and every other app will disclose your whereabouts. via

8. iPhone keyboard tips

That’s not all! There are many additional symbols hidden within your keyboard that you may never have discovered. Tap the 123 button to go to the numbers and symbols keyboard, then tap and hold a symbol such as the pound sign to find other currencies. via

9. Volume button to take photos

As long as the camera app is open, you can use the volume buttons to take a photos.

10. Read my email to Siri

Just say the magic words “Read my email” and Siri will read all your messages aloud to you. If you like, you can tell her to read only your most recent email (“Read my latest email”) or just those from a specific contact (“Do I have email from Mark?”). via

11. See timestamp on iPhone text

For a while, the fact that I couldn’t see when my iMessages were sent drove me crazy. Turns out there’s a stupidly easy way to view timestamps of your messages in iOS 7: touch and drag message bubbles to the left.

12. Take a screenshot

This is useful taking photos of websites, texts, or a funny moment you want to keep. Just hold the home button down and the on/off button at the top right corner at the same time. The screen shot will be saved in your camera roll. Works on an iPad too.

13. Hey Siri

If you’re adamant of using Siri then this feature will help you command Siri by simply saying, “Hey Siri.” You’ll no longer have to press and hold the home button to bring up the automated voice. It’s a great feature to use when driving. To enable go into Settings >General >Siri > then turn on Allow “Hey Siri.”

14. Tap to go back to the top

Just scrolled down a really long list in notes or a whole ton of emails? You can tap at the very top of the iPhone’s screen to go straight back to the top. This works in most iPhone apps.

15. Teach to pronounce a word

You can teach Siri how to properly pronounce words by saying, “That’s not how you pronounce______ ” and she will then give alternatives for you to choose the correct one.

16. Detailed Calendar view

Turn your phone horizontally when in your calendar app to see a more detailed view of your appointments.

17. If you want to listen to music or audiobooks before you go to sleep, set a timer so it turns off.

Launch your Clock app with a tap, and then tap on the Timer button in the lower right. Once there, set the timer for however long you want your media to play. Next, tap “When Timer Ends,” and scroll down to the bottom. Tap on “Stop Playing.” Now, when your music will stop playing when the timer runs out.

18. Grayscale Mode

If your battery is running low you might want to consider changing your display settings to grayscale. Or if you want your phone screen to look cool just invert the colors. To change the display go to Settings >General >Accessibility >then turn on Grayscale or Invert Colors.

19. Automatically turn off your music with the timer

If you like to doze off with music playing like I do, you can use the timer to automatically turn your music off so that it doesn’t play all night. In the timer app, select “When Timer Ends,” then scroll down and select “Stop Playing.” The Timer will automatically turn off your tunes after whatever length of time you set.

20. Double tap caps lock buttuon for keeping caps lock on

This is so simple to do, yet totally changed my ability to CONVEY HOW EXCITED OR MAD I WAS to my friends without having to hit the shift arrow every time.

NB: If this isn’t working for you, go to Settings>General>Keyboard and make sure Caps Lock is enabled.

21. You can control the scrubbing rate of video and audio by moving your finger down the screen as your scrub through it.

When you navigate in a video you drag the playhead horizontally to the right or the left to go forward or backward. While doing this you will see a message that will allow you to adjust the scrubbing rate.

22. Calculator Swipe

If you ever type an extra number into your calculator you no longer have to clear the whole equation, you can just swipe from left to right (or right to left) and the last number inserted will be deleted.

23. Get your iPhone’s flash to blink when you get a message

If you find that the vibration or sound that your phone makes when you get a message is not always enough to attract your attention, there’s another element that you can add to the alert – light. By going to Settings > General > Accessibility and scrolling down to the ‘Hearing’ section (this feature is designed for people with hearing impairments), you can turn on ‘LED Flash for Alerts’. Now every time you get a notification, the flash next to your iPhone’s rear-facing camera will blink.

24. By holding down the capture button in the camera app, your phone will take a series of photos so you can get the perfect shot.

25. Use your iPhone as a level

Need to hang a picture? In the Compass app, swipe left and your iPhone becomes a perfect level.

26. Turn off all in-app purchases with one button

This is especially useful if you have kids, or have zero self-control when it comes to Candy Crush. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions, Enable Restrictions, and scroll down to disable In-App Purchases.

27. Use Speak Selection on iPhone and iPad, so it reads texts out loud.

Begin by opening the Settings app. Scroll down, choose General, tap Accessibility, then turn on Speak Selection. For voice, you can choose from a wide range of voices from the Speak Selection Menu. These include Australian, British, Spanish accents and much more. To speak words out loud, highlight any text (by double-tapping or tapping and holding on it), then tap the Speak button in the pop-up menu. If you can’t see the Speak button, tap the small right arrow on the pop-up menu, then choose Speak.

28. Website Shortcuts

If you visit a website often that doesn’t already have an app you can make it into a homepage shortcut by going into Safari and accessing the menu. Once in the menu, press Add to Home Screen and the shortcut will appear on your home screen as an app icon.

29. Triple Click shortcuts

Another accessibility setting that could come in handy is the Accessibility Shortcut, which can be found by going to Settings > General > Accessibility and then scrolling right down to the bottom. Tap ‘Accessibility Shortcut’, and you’ll see a menu of options. From here you can activate the Home button triple click, which can be used to invert the colours of your iPhone for better visibility in low-light, zoom in to tricky-to-see parts of the screen and more.

30. Set Vibration Pattern

Change the vibration pattern for notifications. Go to Settings > Sounds > Ringtone > Vibration > Create New Vibration.You’ll be able to tell who’s calling or texting you just by the vibration.

31. Lock autofocus and exposure while taking a picture

It can get annoying when when you’re trying to take a picture and your iPhone camera keeps refocusing and automatically adjusting the exposure. But you can lock in the focus and exposure by pressing and holding your finger on the screen until you see a yellow square blink twice. A yellow icon that says “AE/AF Lock” will appear at the bottom of the screen letting you know that you’ve locked in the exposure and focus. It’ll stay that way until you’re done with the shot.

32. Type an em-dash

Hold down the dash on your keyboard to get a super-cool menu of dashes, which you can use to please all your grammar stickler friends.

33. Add web suffixes easily.

Just by holding down the “.” at the bottom of your keyboard, and a menu will pop up with a list of web suffixes to choose from such as.com,.org,.net,.edu.

34. Self-destructive Messages

The new iOS allows users to send instant voice messages, video and photo that self-destructs after the recipient has opened them. To send one you simply press and hold the microphone or the camera on either side of the message box. Once you are done recording your message you let go of the icon and the message will send. Be careful with accidentally sending a selfie, though.

35. Find words or phrases on a web page

If you’re looking for a particular word or phrase on a web page, you can find it by typing the word or phrase in the search bar at the top of the screen. You’ll see a list of search results, but you need to look at the bottom of that list for a section that reads: “On This Page.”

Tap it, and you’ll see that the results are highlighted on that particular web page in yellow. Tap the arrows at the bottom of the screen to go to the next instance.

36. You can access all of your email drafts easily by holding down the “Compose” icon. It will then give you a list of all of your previous drafts.

37. Create custom keyboard shortcuts

Say there’s a certain word or phrase (or a password) that you use a lot. You can create a shortcut for it. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Add New Shortcut. Enter a word or phrase and the shortcut you’d like to use for it. Every time you type that shortcut, the whole word or phrase will magically appear. You can even create shortcuts for emoji!

38. Use your earphone button for a selfie

Press the center of the headphone button when in the camera app to snap a pic. Also great for selfies!

39. Reduce Motion

The iPhone’s new iOS makes your apps move with your screen in a 3D-like way, but the motion augmentation can reduce your battery life. To turn off that setting go into your Settings >General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion > and turn on Reduce Motion.

40. Switch directions in Panorama mode

You can change the direction of your Panorama photograph in the Camera app by tapping the arrow that appears in the middle of the screen in the Panorama mode.

41. Medical ID

With iOS 8 you can create a Medical ID that can be accessed from the Emergency Call screen. If you ever find yourself in an emergency situation the Medical ID could help people identify you and see your medical record. To create a Medical ID you have to access the pre-installed Health app and follow the instructions provided.

42. Scan Credit Card

When you are going to buy something on Safari you can scan your credit card instead of typing in all the numbers on your card. To scan your credit card simply head to the checkout screen and when you start typing in the number box the “Scan Credit Card” option will come up as a suggestion on your keyboard. The phone will then read your card and fill out the checkout screen automatically.

43. Hide Photos

You can now hide photos from people who always keep swiping right when you’re only showing them one picture on your camera roll. To hide press and hold the image and the option will pop up. Hit Hide and the image will be hidden from your camera roll, moments and collections folders but will still be visible on your albums.

Now grab your phone and test these right now. This list doesn’t have to end here and you can always tell me to add more stuff from the comment section below.

Jaspal is a web designer and owns a web development company Web Seasoning. He is also an full-time online geek. Follow him on @twitter or sign-up for the email newsletter and get daily updates from this blog.